20th Annual Night of Italian Opera

June 3, 2014

College of St. Joseph will hold its 20th annual Night of Italian Opera from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 21, 2014, in Tuttle Hall Theater on the CSJ campus. This year’s event will feature five professional performers and a silent auction.

The silent auction and reception begins at 7 p.m., and the performance begins at 8 p.m. There will also be a 50/50 raffle drawing at intermission.

“This is a great opportunity to see a broad variety of live music from well-known operas, as well as some selections by Henry Mancini and Jerome Kern,” said Bates Childress, director of development for College of St. Joseph.

Tickets for the performance are $30 per person. All of the proceeds from the auction, raffle, and ticket sales will go to the CSJ Annual Fund for student scholarships. Call (802) 776-5214 for tickets.

The event brings top-notch opera professionals to Rutland.

“The individuals have performed at The Metropolitan Opera in New York, Bronx Opera and Opera Company of Middlebury. They are first-rate.” Childress said.

Sponsorships for the event are available at the following levels: The Friend of the Opera sponsorship at $100 includes two reserved seats and a listing in the sponsor area of the program. The Patron of the Opera sponsorship at $200 includes four reserved seats and a listing in the sponsor area of the program. The Major Event Sponsor at $500 includes six reserved seats and a listing in the sponsor area of the program. The Platinum Event Sponsorship at $1,000 includes eight reserved seats and a listing in the sponsor area of the program.

This year’s performers are:

Jennifer Moore (Soprano)

Soprano Jennifer Moore’s first entry into the Rossini repertory (Ninetta in La gazza ladra) won glowing reviews at the beginning of 2013. Zachary Woolfe in The New York Times found her “poised and poignant, singing with easy agility and brightly floating tone,” while Musical America’s George Loomis praised her “attractive stage presence, involvement and good diction” in Bronx Opera’s English-language production. She has since returned to Bronx Opera to sing Mimì in La bohème and Violetta in La traviata.

Tynan Davis (Mezzo Soprano)

Tynan Davis, mezzo, is a versatile singer who has toured with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, sung for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and this season performed Woodsprite #3 in Opera San Antonio’s inaugural production of Dvorak’s Rusalka with the San Antonio Symphony.

She performs frequently in Texas with the Grammy award-winning choral ensemble Conspirare and SOLI Chamber Ensemble. This season w/ SOLI featured works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw and Metropolitan Opera-commissioned composer Matt Aucoin.

William Hicks (Pianist and Musical Director)

Hicks, conductor, pianist, and voice coach, recently completed his recording of 127 pieces by Victor Herbert, now available on six CDs in two albums from New World Records.

From 1995 to 2001 Mr. Hicks served as assistant conductor for the Metropolitan Opera, and made his Metropolitan Opera stage debut as the concert pianist Lazinski in Giordano’s FEDORA. He has also served as associate conductor for the Santa Fe Opera, The Canadian Opera Company, the Cincinnati Opera, and the New York City Opera.

Jonathan Hare (Baritone)

Praised in previous productions for his robust voice and comic flair, North Carolina-born Baritone Jonathan Hare is based in New York City.

He holds a bachelor of music degree from the Manhattan School of Music.

Recent performances include Trigorin in Chekhov’s The Seagull, also with the Dicapo Opera Theatre, which was staged in New York and at the Szeged National Theatre in Hungary.

Mathew Edwardson

Hailed by critics for both his singing and acting, tenor Mathew Edwardsen has wowed audiences worldwide with his versatile performances of contemporary and traditional repertoire. In addition to a variety of Verdi roles, he regularly portrays such audience favorites as Don José in Carmen, B.F. Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and Alfredo Germont in La traviata.

Notable achievements for Mathew include his well-received debut in the title role of Otello with Sarasota Opera and a stunning international 3 Tenors Concert celebrating Albania’s 100th Anniversary of Independence.

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